Note: Well, best laid plans of mice and men, my friends…I did indeed try to post this yesterday, but just as the Vlog posted, the internet service decided not to work at all…all evening. But here we are today!
VLOG posted below, just scroll down!
Learn to Talk About Your Art!
Today we’re going to start breaking out some steps for learning to talk about your art. So saddle up or settle down, your choice, and here we go.
A recent experience gave me the idea for this blog/vlog. I was part of an event where the artists were able to volunteer to take 2 minutes to talk about their art in front of a crowd of art lovers, friends and family. Y’all…I was cringing. I felt so bad for most of these artists. ALL of them had amazing art hanging in this venue that people had come to view, and ALL of them had good reason to be proud and confident of their art.
And yet most of them not only failed to really explain anything about their art, they also stood like little embarrassed kids, hands clasped tightly over their soft bits, looking at the floor, afraid of the microphone, and proceeded to explain how nervous they were and how they weren’t comfortable speaking in front of crowds.
You and Your Art are Important to the World
Listen to me. Your art is IMPORTANT. It wouldn’t have come to you if it didn’t have a MISSION to accomplish in the world. Your job is not only to CREATE it, but to put it out in the world to accomplish its purpose. Really, you can’t even know all the purposes it has, and you may not yet know even part of the purpose!–but it’s still your job to send it forth and make sure it has a chance! Talking about your art is not optional and it’s not about you. It’s about the art. It’s about the viewer of the art. You have to love your audience enough that your passion for the art and for the work it is doing overcomes your self-focus.
I will be honest, I haven’t done a whole lot of talking in front of groups about my art. But what I HAVE done is stand in front of a classroom full of elementary aged children hundreds of time. I have no inhibitions left. I’ve also performed musically many, many times…sometimes solo, sometimes in ensembles.
My experience in facing performance anxiety does, indeed, help in this way. I still suffer from it, although that dragon is very weak and old at this point. It does affect my skill and comfort level. But doing it often will cause the dragon to grow weaker. Hopefully knowing that is encouraging.
Be Prepared
Let’s just start, though, with some basics about public appearances–whether you are speaking or performing, there are some basic guidelines that will help you feel more confident and increase your comfort level–and the effectiveness of your communication.
The best thing you can do is prepare. If you know for sure you will need to talk about your art, preparing mentally, emotionally, and socially will really put you in a better place.
Let’s talk about preparing mentally. This is a game changer, and the better you get at it, the more effective (and less nervous) you will be.
Mental Preparation
First, prepare mentally by embracing and appreciating that you ARE an artist, and you DON’T have to prove it to anyone. If you show others you are confident that you are an artist, they will accept that as fact. If this is something you struggle with, it’s worth it to look into ways to help yourself reach a better mental assurance–there are tons of videos online that you can watch to be encouraged about this topic.
Mental preparation also involves thinking about what you might say. We will discuss this in future articles, but the key here is to know why you do what you do, and then work through a very simple bullet list of things you could consider saying–even practicing saying them aloud if necessary (oh yeah…typically this is not optional. Saying it trains your speaking muscles as well as your mind).
Emotional Preparation
You will also need to prepare emotionally: when you are feeling nervous and anxious, it can become a real, self-inflicted spiral of negative emotions. If you’re nervous, it’s too easy to focus on that…just how nervous you are, maybe thinking about negative scenarios that could happen (is my fly open? Do I have toilet paper hanging from my shoe?) and whether your audience will appreciate what you have to say. This ties in with believing in yourself as an artist, a real artist, as well. Some people have a lot of success in re-framing the nerves as excitement. It’s not really a helpful strategy for me: what works for me is the fact that I’ve done it so many times both successfully and embarrassingly that I know for sure I will live afterwards, and that very few people will even notice.
Social Preparation
Prepare socially. By this, I mean, do your best to look nice, and wear your power colors/clothes and keep your head up. These are all outward things that make you feel more confident to your audience–and that translates into your audience perceiving you as confident! Also prepare socially by simply pretending that YOU ARE CONFIDENT! You don’t have to BE confident. Just pretend that you are.
You are a shimmering, glimmering unicorn star in the artistic firmament!!
(HT to Lina Lamont, Singing in the Rain)
And you should realize that your art is showing people how to see music, hear colors, touch magic, and awaken wonder and worship in their hearts.
Stay tuned for more on how to prepare mentally next week. I expect this series to be a three to four article series.
This Week in the Studio
Well, lovely sparkles (sparkles: young unicorns), the last kiln load has come out of the kiln (with mostly good results). I’ve had so much fun making and making for these shows! Now all I can hope is that I have enough product for both shows–and that’s something that can never be known for sure with these sorts of things.
I still have some prep to do, and loading everything into the Venza so I can leave Friday afternoon.
Would you like a blog/vlog on how to prep for an arts and crafts fair? If so, comment on this article or the video and let me know. I’m happy to do that.
Meanwhile, Godspeed! Below is the Vlog link and photos of the work I’ve done this week.
